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Welcome!
We are glad you found us here. St. Paul's is a church in Littlestown, PA, where God is working to have us grow in faith, live in hope, and serve in love. We are a community who strives to love and serve God by loving and serving our neighbors. We'd love to get to know you. Feel free to stop in to worship and say hello. 
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For Conversation Questions, click below.
| covid_and_holy_week_questions.pdf |
A Pastoral Update
To My Partners in the Gospel at St. Paul’s,
I know that the last two weeks have been trying for many of us. This moment of social distancing can be isolating and difficult to bear. It is especially hard to experience during a season that we are so used to joining together even more often for shared meals and worship during our Lenten midweek services. However, the possible impact of this virus upon our community is not something that we can or should take lightly. In my last letter I shared the council’s recommendation that we suspend in person gatherings until the 29th of April. However, with the information we now have and following the recommendation of our synod and state officials, the council has voted to continue the suspension until April 13th. Also, at this time we will tie our return to in person services in with the LASD’s return to classes.
There is much to grieve about this. Holy Week is a remarkably important time in the church and spending it outside of our building, unable to gather in person, is something that I wish we did not have to do. However, I firmly believe that this is the choice we must make for the safety of our church and neighbors. That being said, I believe in this we have an opportunity to experience this time in new and meaningful ways. In partnership with St. John’s we will be working to develop Holy Week services that can be experienced in the home. Finally, we will be called to join together safely from within our cars as we gather together for “Easter at the Drive In” at the Littlestown Eagles parking lot at 10:15am on Easter Sunday, the 12th. I hope this will be a way we can gather in person, and also to celebrate Holy Communion. More information about the Holy Week services will be shared next week.
As we are seeing more and more about the spread of this virus, the council is limiting access to the church to only necessary functions. This means that unless there is express permission from the pastor, the only ones to come into the building are staff, worship volunteers, assigned counters, and Ruth’s Harvest volunteers. If you need something from the building during this time please call the church or call me on the Pastoral Emergency Number (717-800-1368) and we will arrange a time to set it out for you. Please, for your safety as well as the safety of our community, do not come in at this time.
A word on our finances, over the past few weeks since social distancing began we have seen a serious drop in contributions. The ministry of our congregation is still continuing and is as vital as it ever was. While we are blessed to have been running a small surplus and to have savings to fall back on, it would be a tremendous thing to be able to weather this time without having to deplete them. I would like to encourage you to consider automated giving, whether through setting St. Paul’s as an automatic payment directly with your bank or by downloading and using the give plus app for your smartphone or tablet. In response to this crisis we are also adjusting our Mission of the Month, until this crisis has passed all Mission of the Month donations received from now through April will be set aside as COVID-19 Relief funds for our community.
In Christ,
Pastor Chris Thomas
To My Partners in the Gospel at St. Paul’s,
I know that the last two weeks have been trying for many of us. This moment of social distancing can be isolating and difficult to bear. It is especially hard to experience during a season that we are so used to joining together even more often for shared meals and worship during our Lenten midweek services. However, the possible impact of this virus upon our community is not something that we can or should take lightly. In my last letter I shared the council’s recommendation that we suspend in person gatherings until the 29th of April. However, with the information we now have and following the recommendation of our synod and state officials, the council has voted to continue the suspension until April 13th. Also, at this time we will tie our return to in person services in with the LASD’s return to classes.
There is much to grieve about this. Holy Week is a remarkably important time in the church and spending it outside of our building, unable to gather in person, is something that I wish we did not have to do. However, I firmly believe that this is the choice we must make for the safety of our church and neighbors. That being said, I believe in this we have an opportunity to experience this time in new and meaningful ways. In partnership with St. John’s we will be working to develop Holy Week services that can be experienced in the home. Finally, we will be called to join together safely from within our cars as we gather together for “Easter at the Drive In” at the Littlestown Eagles parking lot at 10:15am on Easter Sunday, the 12th. I hope this will be a way we can gather in person, and also to celebrate Holy Communion. More information about the Holy Week services will be shared next week.
As we are seeing more and more about the spread of this virus, the council is limiting access to the church to only necessary functions. This means that unless there is express permission from the pastor, the only ones to come into the building are staff, worship volunteers, assigned counters, and Ruth’s Harvest volunteers. If you need something from the building during this time please call the church or call me on the Pastoral Emergency Number (717-800-1368) and we will arrange a time to set it out for you. Please, for your safety as well as the safety of our community, do not come in at this time.
A word on our finances, over the past few weeks since social distancing began we have seen a serious drop in contributions. The ministry of our congregation is still continuing and is as vital as it ever was. While we are blessed to have been running a small surplus and to have savings to fall back on, it would be a tremendous thing to be able to weather this time without having to deplete them. I would like to encourage you to consider automated giving, whether through setting St. Paul’s as an automatic payment directly with your bank or by downloading and using the give plus app for your smartphone or tablet. In response to this crisis we are also adjusting our Mission of the Month, until this crisis has passed all Mission of the Month donations received from now through April will be set aside as COVID-19 Relief funds for our community.
In Christ,
Pastor Chris Thomas
